


Focus on Breathing

by actually18pigeons



Series: Whumptober 2020 [7]
Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Established Steve McGarrett/Danny "Danno" Williams, Hurt Steve McGarrett, Hurt/Comfort, Oxygen mask, Protective Danny, SEAL Steve McGarrett, Steve McGarrett whump, Whump, Whumptober, Whumptober 2020, Worried Danny "Danno" Williams, but lowkey, no.18, smoke inhalation
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-08
Updated: 2020-10-08
Packaged: 2021-03-08 04:01:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,134
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26889283
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/actually18pigeons/pseuds/actually18pigeons
Summary: Ah standard whump. Burning building, smoke inhalation, emotional conversations. You know how it is. Whumptober Day 7, Prompt 22, oxygen mask.
Relationships: Steve McGarrett & Danny "Danno" Williams
Series: Whumptober 2020 [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1941847
Comments: 2
Kudos: 53





	Focus on Breathing

**Author's Note:**

> It's late but I'm posting this after proofreading it once so sorry if it's a hot mess, but gotta keep up that 7 day streak of 1k words, 1 story a day. I'll fix it tomorrow sorry.

Danny had just finished washing the dishes from dinner when his phone rang. It was Grover. 

“Hey Danny, sorry to interrupt you so late, but we’ve got a situation,” Danny sighed, it could never come at a good time could it, “a couple of officers were watching a housing complex that our suspect from the string of assaults is in, and we just got a call that the building was on fire. One guess who started it. The fire department in en route, but for now all we can do is watch. We want the whole team here once the fire is under control.”

“I’m on my way. Where’s Steve?”

“Here’s here already. I’ll send you the address. See you in a minute.” Danny hung up, cursing his luck. This was supposed to be a calm night after a long day, and a quiet weekend with his family. 

Danny hopped in the Camaro, plugging in the address, grabbing some gum in an attempt to stay awake for what was shaping up to be a long night. 

He somehow arrived on the scene before the fire department, which was a surprise. But the flaming building was loosely surrounded by various emergency vehicles and Steve’s truck was parked off to the side. Danny approached Grover 

“Where’s Steve?”

“You’re not gonna like this.”

“Why?” an exasperated sigh escaped his lips, “What did the idiot do this time?”

“He’s in the building.” Danny’s heart stopped. 

“He’s what!?” 

“He heard a family calling for help from the second floor and ran in to help them, this was a few minutes ago. We all tried to stop him, but you know how he is.”

“Unfortunately I do.” The words caught in his throat, and Danny had to step away, his heart was racing. Was Steve actually a hero or did he just have no sense of self-preservation? Trust Steve to literally run into a burning building. How was he partners with someone whose first thought was ‘I have to go into the flaming complex’? Danny stood by his team, staring intently at the blaze, his head a jumble of racing thoughts and desperate prayers. 

The fire trucks and ambulances arrived then, and a flurry of organized chaos overtook the scene. Grover relayed the details to the captain, including that one of their own was in the building. Danny stayed a distance away, eyes trained on the open front door. Any second Steve would be walking out that door. Any second now… he had to. 

He watched as the firefighters ran into the building… but no one was running out. If anything, Steve had just added himself to the list of victims, or, Danny didn’t want to think like this, casualties. 

Danny turned away, hands running anxiously through his hair, trying to ground himself. 

“Danny! I see him!” And just like that, there he was. Six feet of Navy SEAL stumbling out of the furious blaze, holding two children in his arms, a small woman was securely thrown over his shoulder. Several policemen ran forward, pulling the civilians from him, carrying them to the ambulance. Steve faltered, still only feet away from the flames encasing the house. He pressed a hand to his chest, nearly doubling over as convulsive coughing overtook him.   
Thankfully an EMT was at his side in an instant, steadying him and guiding him to a nearby ambulance. 

The EMT worked methodically, taking Steve’s vitals and snapping an oxygen mask onto his face, giving him a look when he reached up to adjust it, before turning her attention to the burns on his hands. 

Danny approached them, equal parts thankful, and pissed off. As Danny got closer he took in the sight that was his partner. Parts of his cargo pants and shirt were singed, and all the little hairs on his forearms were burnt off. His exposed skin was bright red, but beyond his hands there didn’t seem to be significant damage. But that was all external, Danny could hear Steve’s wheezing breaths from several feet away. 

But right as his thoughts began to spiral Steve had the audacity to catch his eyes and smile. That stupid smile that made it all briefly go away. But Steve wasn’t getting away with it that easily. Danny was just getting started. 

“I just have one question, Steven. Are you actually a dumbass? Did you really graduate SEAL training or where you just such an idiot they didn’t want to deal with you anymore!?”

Steve reached up to the mask again with a blistered hand, about to pull it off his face. “Do I look like I want an explanation? No! I don’t! This isn’t a call and response, this is called ‘I yell at you while you keep your damn mask on and focus on breathing!’” Steve looked sheepish as the lowered his hand. The EMT returned to cleaning his burnt hands, applying a pungent burn cream, and loosely wrapping his hands in gauze. 

“You show up to the scene of a fire, not a crime, not a hostage situation, a fire! You know who deals with fires? The FIRE DEPARTMENT! You, Steven, are not the fire department. You barged into the BURNING building with no protection! No mask, no oxygen, no plan, and you thought that that was the right thing to do!” Thank God Steve wasn’t smiling anymore, Danny didn’t know if he’d have been able to stop himself from slapping him if he continued with this nonchalant attitude. The EMT finished bandaging his hands, and she quickly took her leave, not wanting to get caught in the quarrel. 

Danny stepped forward, resting a hand on Steve’s leg as he sat next to him on the ambulance back. He changed his tactic as he saw the pain on Steve’s face as he continued to struggle to breathe deeply. 

“Steve, look at me. You have radiation poisoning. If that wasn’t enough, you got shot half a dozen times resulting in you getting half of my liver. You’re not in your twenties anymore. You’re not in the Navy anymore.” He paused, trying to get his message across, “Babe please, you’re so strong and so brave, but you are human. And days like this that you forget that are the days hardest days. I know I wouldn’t have been able to stop you if I was here earlier, but I would never forgive myself if something happened to you because you put everyone else's’ life before your own.”

Danny couldn’t tell if the dampness of Steve’s eyes was from the pain or Danny’s words, but Steve placed his bandaged hand on Danny’s hand squeezing gently, their eyes meeting as the rest of the conversation was communicated without words. “You just keep breathing babe, and we’ll get out of here soon.”


End file.
